Every Business Has Slow Seasons—Here's How to Survive Them

Every business goes through seasons of growth, momentum, uncertainty, and slowdowns. The key to long-term success isn't avoiding hard seasons—it's building a business that's prepared to survive and thrive through them.

In this episode of the EmpowerHER Business Podcast, financial experts Rhonda Monique and Nikki return to discuss what they're seeing across the industries they serve and what every business owner needs to understand right now. Learn how to navigate business cycles, strengthen your cash flow, prepare for uncertainty, and build a profitable business that lasts.

In this episode, you'll learn:

• Why slow seasons are a normal part of business—not a sign you're failing
• How to manage cash flow during uncertain times
• The importance of contingency planning and building cash reserves
• Practical strategies for staying profitable through every business season
• How to create a resilient business built for long-term success

Follow the podcast and share it with a sister who needs this conversation. We’re on a mission to help Black women make it through the first five years in business — and thrive far beyond them.

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Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:09

Welcome back to the Empower Her Business Podcast, everyone. I'm your host, Lynette Cottrell, founder of Empower Her Bookkeeping and Advisory, where I create a safe space for women to build businesses that don't just generate revenue but actually support the life they're creating. I guide female founders through compassionate accounting to eliminate guilt shame and avoidance around their finances and embrace clarity, confidence, and relief. This is my calling. In this space, the Empower Her Business Podcast is dedicated to bringing expert advice, resources, solutions, and support to Black women founders who were bold enough and brave enough to step into this business journey. Welcome to another episode of our financial roundtable. Today's conversation is called Building a Business That Can Survive the Seasons. Because one thing we know for certain is this: every business experiences seasons. There are seasons of growth, seasons of momentum, seasons of opportunity, and just the different seasons throughout the year, right? Where these can feel slower, uncertain, or unpredictable. For some businesses, this may happen during the summertime, and for others, it could be during the fourth quarter. For some businesses, it can be when there are tough economic times or delayed projects, changing client behavior and raising costs. The truth is, slow seasons are not a sign that your business is failing. They're often a normal part of doing business. So the question becomes: how do we prepare for them? How do we lead through them? And how do we build businesses that can withstand them? Today, our incredible financial experts, Rhonda, Nikki, and Monique, are joining us again to share what they're seeing across the industries they serve, and what business owners need to understand right now. So we're going to be talking about business cycles, cash flow, contingency planning, how to be profitable in uncertain times, building cash reserves, and a whole lot more. You see, these women work with businesses every day. They see the challenges, the opportunities, and the strategies that help business owners move from reacting to planning. Because successful businesses are not built only during the good seasons, they are built by leaders who learn how to navigate every season. So, audience, we're delighted that you're here with us today. And ladies, welcome, welcome. So, my first question, I'm going to start. I'm going to start with right now, many people think that the slow business period is really just a summer problem. But is it really just about summer, or do all businesses experience seasons? And what are you seeing seeing in the industries you serve? So I'm going to pose this question first to Rhonda.

SPEAKER_03 3:48

Oh, that's a that's a good one. I mean, all businesses really experience various seasons of slowness. I mean, sometimes it's based off the calendar. I think a lot of times it just really depends on the type of business model that you have and what type of industry you're in. And we work with a lot of professional service firms. And right now, it's most of them, it's not necessarily that they're experiencing it based off of a calendar year, but it just maybe based off of economic conditions. They're mostly project-based. So we have a lot of folks that, you know, they're on the eastern half of the US and they deal with state and local and federal contracts, whether they are direct recipients or they feed off of the ecosystem some kind of way. So then they start to see a lot of issues right now with delays or cutbacks in some of the projects that they may have originally expected, maybe last year they had planned on and their out your forecast, but it's no longer happening or it's happening a lot later than what they expected. So it kind of creates a lot of those issues in terms of having enough cash on the books when you need it. If you plan for a major project to hit, if you plan for a $500,000 project to hit early in the year, and now you're you're seeing that it may not happen until December or even next year or even at all. That's it's a pretty significant hit for the business. So you have to figure out ways that either you're gonna have to tap into your contingency funds or you know, reduce your costs, let go some of your contractors, reduce the contract spend that you have, find ways that you can manage through that period so that when you do get back to a point of having additional funds come in or you know, pivot, then then you'll be prepared for that.

SPEAKER_00 5:26

Very good points, very good points. And that takes a lot into consideration, right? You have to really kind of pre-plan and and do some what-ifs to be available for that.

SPEAKER_03 5:39

Absolutely, absolutely.

SPEAKER_00 5:40

Yeah, that makes me think about like during COVID when so many businesses closed their doors, even large corporations. They closed their doors because they couldn't survive without that steady revenue coming in. You know, after a couple of months, some of them fell after a couple couple of months, like with no revenue for a couple of months, they didn't have reserves to hold them over. So very too, very two. So my next question is to you, Nikki. What are you seeing right now in your industry that business owners might not realize is affecting their cash flow?

SPEAKER_01 6:21

So I would say that what I see in consortia is that many many business owners that many consortium business owners should uh make confusion between cash flow and revenue. So when there is when they see the revenue, they think that is their cash flow, you know, and that is the real problem. You know, there we have a project, there we have invoices, but the cash is still a problem because um what what I have seen so far is that one person is doing everything, so it's the same person send the invoice out, if the same person uh try to to do their accounting, the same person try to track uh the invoices, or be the same person is um go to the uh the the workfield, and this is a problem because um when you send an invoice out, you also have to follow up the invoice. So you are just seeing the big revenue. Um this you think that this is the money that will stay in your bank, but isn't it isn't this the money that will stay in your bank. You have to send invoice out, you have to follow up. If you don't do it, then you will the cash flow will feel tight because you are spending money but you are not received. And this is what I've been seeing all often.

SPEAKER_00 7:57

You make a very good point. So they're thinking that oh, I got an invoice that I sent out for let's say $200,000. So that means I got $200,000 to spend, but they have not received the payment on that invoice, so they have they not they do not have $200,000 in their bank. But they're looking at the number that says, I have $200,000 in sales, so I have $200,000 to spend and utilize in my business versus going to check and see, okay, was that invoice paid? Did those funds actually come in? And now I can use them in my business. Wow. Very interesting. So the difference between revenue and cash flow is very important to understand as a business owner, right? So, Monique, how do slow seasons show up differently in your industry?

SPEAKER_02 8:57

Well, the thing is, is that with my clients, they I touch a couple different industries. And so, um, you know, for some of my clients, like I have home health care clients where when we do a budget, we actually forecast and look at the fact that they have the downturns during the holiday season. People are spending more money in other places, and so if they have um they have clients that will say, Well, no, we don't want that home health care right now. The family's all around, and you know, but when it hits the summer, they are like, nope, let's spend money because we want to go away and we don't want to take the old people with us. I mean, you know, so no, this is a serious thing, but um, but we plan for it, right? So it is definitely dependent upon um the industry. And I think just the most important thing with that is knowing what your season is, knowing the season when you're going to have that downturn, knowing the season of, okay, my revenue is about to shoot up, but just because your revenue shoots up doesn't mean it's time to spend. That's where you put in certain planning arrangements, that's where in your budget it should show that, right? We don't straight line a budget, we actually prepare for um those downturns.

SPEAKER_00 10:18

Very, very good, very good. So when someone is setting up a budget for their uh next year, that's the time they need to consider what what is the season where I don't have a lot of money coming in. Absolutely so that I can kind of organize the money that does come in so it can spread over that period. So you're not planning on spending everything as soon as you receive it, you're planning on making sure it lasts you for those other periods in your business. Right. Okay. So do any of you ever have experience with a small business needing to have a cash reserve? And is there a realistic percentage for a small business? Is it different based on the industry? How do you handle the topic of cash reserves when you're talking to your small business owner? Because we know a lot of small business owners want to spend it like um Nikki spoke to before it even comes in, right? They want to spend it. So how do you get them to understand that when it comes in, yes, it's in the bank now, but you can't spin it right now. Rhonda, how do you handle that?

SPEAKER_03 11:39

Well, you have to have an understanding of what it costs to actually operate your business. And sometimes, especially if you're newer, like it takes time for you to establish what those metrics are, but getting to a point or a more established business, understanding, okay, how much does it cost for my average payroll? How much does it cost for us to keep the lights on? All of our fixed expenses, having an idea of how much that is, and then determining how long do we think based on our business operations, based on the environment, based on various things that are happening in this particular industry, how long does it make sense for me to be able to survive, if you will, if we don't have additional funds coming in? Right. So if that's three months, if that's six months, if that's a year, depends on the type of business that you're running, then you would want to know how much are my baseline operations, and then how much time do I need to plan for that? That's usually what we kind of look at when we're working with our clients.

SPEAKER_00 12:44

Gotcha, gotcha. So during those slower periods or those seasons, whether it's um based on uh economic developments or whether it's just a certain time of year when you have less customers coming in to utilize your services, what should business owners be measuring besides just their business revenue during those periods of time? Monique.

SPEAKER_02 13:14

So during those um times, you're saying when it's a downturn besides looking at the revenue? Um, well, well, there's a slew of other things that you can look at. Um, as a business as a whole, right, I think that it's a great time to look at what did I do wrong? Right? Um, and when I say what did I do wrong is is it truly a downturn? Is this really about seasonality, or is it because I didn't um advertise properly? Right. And that advertising didn't trickle properly. So you can look at um marketing, you can look at inventory. If you know that you're in a spot where, okay, no, I need to make sure that I have inventory um on hand um and I have the cash right now to purchase it, those are the types of things that you want to look at. Um, you also want to look at staffing, right? Even as myself, a tax and accounting um business owner, I will have more help during the tax season because it's needed. It is a crazy time of the year. Crazy season. Other periods it is, right? Versus other um times of the year, the staffing is um not as high. So there's, I mean, you look at all different points of the business to show to see, you know, um during that downtime, um, it's definitely not about the revenue, it's about the revenue drivers.

SPEAKER_00 14:44

I love that. So first you first take a look and see is this really seasonal for my business, or is it something is it a slowdown because of something that I didn't do or I didn't market correctly? I I'm not bringing the the pipeline, filling the pipeline and bringing the sales in, or is it truly seasonal for my business? Very good information. So when revenue starts reclining, um Nikki, what is something that you tell your business owners to look at first? So revenues going down, what should they look at first? Kind of a piggyback off of what Monique was saying. How do they tell that it's really a seasonal thing or it's a lack of sales thing?

SPEAKER_01 15:38

Yes, so if um I always said that revenue slowdown first is not um I will I always say to the uh to my customer, do not panic when your business slows down. So you have to find the bottleneck of that slowdown. Yes, um generally in construction, I will have them, I recommend them to have a job costing because that will help you see which job what says what job is seasonal and what is not, and which one is driving your revenue up and which one is not driving your revenue up, and always you know revenue slowdown. I will say it doesn't mean that you are not profitable enough. Because you might have a you might have for example, I will always take example of the consumption. You might have a you might win a job that have less revenue, maybe hundred thousand dollars less than the past job, but it's giving you more profit, which means more cash flow.

SPEAKER_00 17:01

Wow, that's a great point.

SPEAKER_01 17:04

Yes, so I always say for that Pacific industry, the job custom will tell you what is going on. Revenue slow down, it's not don't panic. Right, it doesn't mean that you are failing.

SPEAKER_00 17:20

Yes, I love that. So the revenue number, what's coming in, or or or that invoice that you said, that number is not the only number you should look at. You should also be aware of how profitable you're being doing this season because it could be less revenue, but it could be a greater profit, so less expenses, which leaves you in a still in a better position. I love that. That's very insightful.

SPEAKER_03 17:46

Well, it's pretty consistent as well. For we work with a lot of consulting firms. So it's the same type of structure. It kind of brings forth how important it is to make sure that you understand, because in those particular cases, a lot of times they're working on projects. So knowing and understanding what which one of these projects is most profitable, just because one is bringing in a certain amount of money, it may cost you a whole lot more to do that same project. And similar to what Nikki was talking about with construction, like you gotta know. And if you're not tracking, okay, this particular project brings in this much money and this is the expenses that are associated with that particular project, then it's then it's hard for you to tell. You just may see that top line, hey, I'm making this much revenue, and here's my bottom line that profit. But if you're not looking at it by the types of projects that you're working when and who you're working with, and how much it costs to do those, then it's kind of hard to tell which ones should I focus on or is gonna make this most profitable for the business overall.

SPEAKER_00 18:42

That's a great point. So when we talk about um Monique was talking about earlier, setting your budget. So having that knowledge of what's the most profitable type of job for me to do or type of project for me to take on helps you to, when you're setting those goals, say, okay, this one brings in a lot of money, but the the profit uh margin on this is extremely low and it takes a lot of work, you know, versus I could do multiple of these over here and end up much better. So those details make the difference as opposed to just that top line total revenue number.

SPEAKER_02 19:22

And just one more thing, I think that it's also important for our small business owners to understand that within your specific industry, there are key performance indicators, right? And so it's important to be able to look at those, analyze those, or bring in a professional to analyze your um key performance indicators because that's going to help you understand is it about the season or am I doing something wrong? Can I be doing something better? So, and and that's definitely industry specific. When you compare yourself to the industry, how do your numbers look? Not that they all have to be high, but if you know that in comparison to others, and you know, comparison in terms of the size of your business, etc., if you're way low and this is a season where everyone else is kind of doing better, then it's kind of like red flag, right?

SPEAKER_00 20:12

So very good point. So, next question what are what are smart CEOs doing during full season that struggling businesses often neglect? So, what are the smart CEOs doing? So the CEOs who work with you guys and they have you to advise them, what are they doing that someone who is really struggling, maybe haven't been in business as many years, what are they not catching, or what are they neglecting? Anyone?

SPEAKER_03 20:45

Probably the best ones already, they already thought it was coming. They from the beginning, they already planned that this is going to happen at some point in time. The slow seasons happen. They happen no matter what industry you're in, no matter what kind of business you're running, whether it's a whether it's very successful or it's in a struggle period, like it happens no matter what. So the the ones who are best prepared are the ones who planned for it, knowing that it would happen at some point in time. So let me think of what are some of those things that I'm gonna have for contingency plan, maybe that's making sure that you have available line of credit when you may need to tap into it, if you need to use debt as a way to manage through that process, using it, using it the right way, obviously. Right. Um or do I need to make sure that I have how much money do I need to make sure I have as a contingency, as you know, my backup, if these particular sales don't happen the way I'm expecting, or if I don't get the cash the way that I'm the time frame that I'm expecting, then I know that I can tap into these funds temporarily and then I can repay them when I have new projects that come in. Um the the best managers that I have seen are the ones who just know I don't know when it's gonna happen, but I know that there is gonna be an implementation where I'm gonna have some downturns and I'm gonna have to tap into something so that I can survive this. Period. Got it, got it. It makes sense.

SPEAKER_01 22:03

And that is why I always say the budget is the key. So when you run your business, the budget is the key. Because the budget will help you to see to see how far you are going, where you're gonna have that down uh that down period, right? And then based on that when you have the budget and you have the cash flow forecasting, those two tools will help you to see how well you can manage your business.

SPEAKER_00 22:40

Got it, got it. So that um cash flow forecast report and then your budget go hand in hand to help you stay prepared and know what's about to happen.

SPEAKER_02 22:53

Two words. Um the smart CEOs, well, it's not two words, but the smart CEOs are, and this is basically you know what Rhonda was saying, but they are being strategic and intentional.

SPEAKER_05 23:08

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 23:09

There's too many business owners that they're just doing, they're just doing the business, but you have to be strategic, looking at the future, looking at the long term. You cannot do things day by day.

SPEAKER_00 23:24

That's very important. Um, and I think that's a very key element when we look at utilizing a professional to assist you with the financial side of your business, because um, you guys can see the blind spots that the entrepreneur can't see, you know, because they're so close up on it, right? And in addition with the experience you've had with different types of businesses, different entrepreneurs, you bring a volume of um information to the table, again, that they don't have access to without you. So a lot of times entrepreneurs can be thinking, okay, it's just me and I'm in this business, and this is what I'm going to do, and not looking ahead the way they should. Have you ever had a situation with an entrepreneur where you had to kind of there was a struggle to get them to not spend the money so quickly and to kind of build a cash reserve because they may have felt like as soon as it comes in, you know, either I'm using it in the business or I'm taking out some drawl to use it personally, and that's very realistic too. So anyone can anyone speak to that with a uh a tale to share?

SPEAKER_02 24:43

Y'all know I'm always telling my friends. You know, I find that my new S-corp owners, they're just like, because they've they've reached this level of, oh yeah, I'm making this much money now. I'm an S-corp and give me that distribution. And I'm like, stop it. Don't do that. Can we focus on the business? Can we look at the business and not so much at the bank account? Um, and so that's yeah, it's so just take it easy. When that money comes in, there's a whole lot of planning that still has to go on. So, you know, especially when we we talk about distributions versus payroll and reasonable compensation, um, understanding that okay, if you can afford to wait until the last quarter, let's see how things flow. Let's see how you can get the best benefit and you know, do things the right way strategically. Yeah, look at things that way rather than spending the money.

SPEAKER_00 25:44

I like that. So a suggestion you make is okay, let's let's wait a little later in the year, right? Let's not let's not use all this up yet. If you can hold off, let's wait and see what happens, let's see what happens in the economy. Let's see what happens with with people changing their minds, you know. Let's see if you need to spend more on marketing. There's a myriad of reasons, but that's that's great advice. Let's just wait and see and not spin it all. Just because it just came in. Do you find that entrepreneurs are um willing to plan, let's say, for a what next five-year period versus just the next year, the next 12 months? Um, or do they tend to just want to look at the next 12 months and that's enough for them?

SPEAKER_03 26:37

It depends. For me, the the clients that I've worked with, it kind of depends on their approach to business management. And some of the some of the best run firms that I've seen, they are planning out for the next couple years. It may not be really defined, like, okay, I know I'm gonna make this much money in March and this is what I'm gonna spend it on of, you know, three years from now. It's in it's not that defined, but they have a strategic plan and a goal. They may have a revenue plan that they intend to do. They they have an extended pipeline and they they know exactly how they're going to work through to get to those funds. It's not just a wishful thinking, like, okay, I'm I made 500,000 this year, next year I'm gonna make a million. They actually have a plan for how they're gonna get there and the various streams of revenue that need to come in, the projects that are the most profitable, they know which ones they're pursuing, they know how long that contract process takes, they know when those funds will likely hit if it's awarded. So they they're they're thinking years out strategically.

SPEAKER_00 27:49

I love that. That's one of um Monique's words, strategic, right? So they're planning forward, but they're not using pie in the sky numbers. They have a basis for you know, how I'm gonna get to this revenue versus, oh, I want to go by 50% next year. They have a how am I gonna go by 50%? What am I putting in the place now for that growth so that it's it's a process, right? It's not a however it's gonna happen, you know. That's what I'm saying. Hope, hope, and a prayer. Yeah, yes. I love that. I love that. So being strategic about your planning for the years ahead. Love that. Anything else on that? So looking forward, what is one contingency plan every business owner should have before they need it? And you kind of spoke to this, um, Rhonda, that the most successful ones are the ones that have it in place before they need it as opposed to it happens upon them. So, what is the most important contingency plan is it for a business owner to have in place? Is it really just a cash reserves? Is it something beyond the cash reserves?

SPEAKER_01 29:15

So I always said that I would opt for the cash reserve first because, like we've been saying strategically, and I always say the cash reserve we always base on your cash flow forecast because your cash flow forecast tell you how much you are getting for the next 90 days, how much you are gonna um you're gonna be spend for the next 90 days. Um with this with this uh cash flow forecast that will help you to know how much you will put at the side for for the uh for the down uh to meet your commitment, to meet your you know, your commitment. Um so I always say the reserve because you know the reserve is your own money, it's not you do not um you it's not a debt because when you take the debt, you also have to think about the cost of the debt, the cost of the interest. So based on your fixed costs and some of the expenses, you might be able to know how much you will put aside for the dump period. That is what I recommend to do.

SPEAKER_00 30:45

Very good information. So knowing what your um in the next 90 days, the cash you need to have on hand to cover all of your um responsibilities. And if you have debt, recognizing that it's not free money, you have to make payments on that debt, pay the interest, pay the principal. So that's still money that's going out, even though you you got your your loan in, and um being able to plan for that. Okay. Anyone else? Anything else?

SPEAKER_02 31:18

Yeah, I would add that within a contingency plan, I feel like there's uh multiple moving parts. I agree with Nikki about the cash reserve, but then we talk about the business owners that just don't have a cash reserve. So then what's the plan, right? Yeah, I think it was Rhonda that maybe touched on this a little bit earlier regarding do they have a line of credit in place? Or is it going to be a capital contribution that they can afford to pull out from someplace else? What did that look like? I mentioned earlier about staffing, right? When you start to look at or think strategically about what's going to happen, do I need to have um you know temps working for me that I know that I can release them when um things aren't looking the way they need to look? I don't want to hire people and they're depending to put food on their table, and they're depending on your business, right? So I think your contingency plan needs to not just look at the actual dollars, but how do you get the actual dollars? Also your staffing, and again, when we go back to inventory levels, depending on your industry again, what does that look like uh for your industry? It's there's a slew of things behind the scene. Um, one of the other things, it's not one thing, but when we talk about a contingency plan, how are we writing that out and what does that say to you? Right? So, do I tell myself within my business, okay, if I drop below um 80% of my expected revenue, then I will do X. Then I will tighten up on this expense, on that expense. Like really have a specific plan in place so that um I believe Nikki said that you're not big afraid when that downturn.

SPEAKER_00 33:02

Right, you're not panicking.

SPEAKER_02 33:05

And so you know this is the action I will take if this happens.

SPEAKER_00 33:10

I love that. So even beyond setting a budget and planning for the next three years, also considering, okay, what if we don't hit these numbers? Then what are we gonna do, right? So having a backup plan, so you're covering okay, okay, the best case scenario is we reach all our goals, right? But what if we don't? We still want to stay in business, right? So, what do we do to make sure we stay in business if we don't reach all those goals? So that's great. Um, I think what we what we're discussing here just makes it, I hope it makes it very clear to the small business owner that planning is very key, right? Planning is very necessary. So, as much as when I deal with um entrepreneurs, their least favorite thing is to look at their numbers. I mean, just to look at what's really going on day to day, month over month, is their least favorite thing because that's not their core genius, but being in business means you have to understand your numbers. And now what we're talking about goes beyond you being aware of your day-to-day because you've set a what we're hoping is you've set a budget. You know, you've set a budget for the coming years, and you've also considered, okay, what if I don't reach those monetary goals, then what do I do? How do I stay in business if I don't make that amount of revenue? Which can kind of guide how you run your business, which to your point, Monique, would probably say, let's run it a little leaner. So just in case we can still stay, we can still sustain and grow, right? If the best case doesn't happen. So looking forward, um, if business owners leave this conversation, ladies, with one action item, what would you tell them to do this week? And I'll go around, I'll start with you, Rhonda. What's one action item? And we're talking about the business owner who's within their first five years of business, and they're thinking, okay, I need to start thinking about my seasons and stuff. What is, but we don't want them overrimmed to think they have to do everything at once, right? So what's one action item? What can they start with? What is that small step that they can actualize?

SPEAKER_03 35:44

First five years in business. This is the time where it's like, you know what? Set up, set aside a day. If you can't do a whole day, set aside a couple of hours. Just say, you know what? I am going to step away from working in my business and I'm going to work on it. I'm going to start making a little list of the different things that are my goals. You know, maybe you don't have it, you haven't been operating with an operating budget. Maybe that's something you want to start thinking about. Okay, I need to figure out how to put that together. Or maybe it is part of this situation where you hadn't thought about, okay, well, what is what how am I going to feed my pipeline? What does that look like? Maybe this is the time you step away and start thinking about that strategy. All right, how am I going to bring new business into my business? How am I going to feed my business? Like, well, what whatever those, you know, make maybe it's a list of just the top three things that I've maybe been neglecting these. And I want to focus on that and give yourself a couple of hours at the minimum to just start to think about the strategy, being intentional rather than being reactive and allowing things to kind of happen as they go. That would be what I would recommend. First thing.

SPEAKER_00 36:58

I love that. That's very good. Very good. What about you, Nikki? What would you tell the business owner in that first five years? What's one action item that they can do this week just to get started on the right track?

SPEAKER_01 37:14

I would say understand the key performance matrix of their business. If you you do not have it, sometimes we know that sometimes you will call you will wait for a business owner on the call to explain the report that you just sent, but they never show up. So take that time, the time that take that time and look, actually look on your report that you receive from your CFO or your accountant and read the key metrics. Then the key metry will tell you if you meet your goal. If you're not, I need to be done for me to reach where I want to be. So that is why we say because the key the key performance will not lie to you. It will tell you exactly how healthy your business is and how it needs to be done. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 38:17

Look at those key performance numbers and see how healthy your business is, and if you didn't reach your goals, why? And that brings something else to mind before I get to you, Monique. That makes me think about so what I think it's very important for a small business owner to understand what type of partner they have in their finance person. Is it just someone who runs the numbers, gives you the report, and they're done? Or is it someone to your point, um, Nikki, that's going to explain those numbers? And who, when that business owner looks at those numbers, they can come back and they can give you a call. Nikki, I see my KPIs here. I haven't met it. You know, what's going on can you help me? How can I get up to these to meet these KPIs? Because I see a lot of negatives here and differences. So, what does that mean? Because every financial person doesn't give that amount of service, right? Some are just transactional. I ran the reports using the numbers you gave me. Here you here are your reports, we're done. So um, what you bring to mind, Nikki, is that it's very important for, especially in your first five years, for you to have a financial partner you can ask questions of because you don't know what you don't know. And believe me, you don't know a lot. And you should never be just taking reports and moving on because you don't know. You don't know. So you have to know that I am able with this person I'm working with, I'm able to ask questions, get answers, get clarity. They're gonna break it down for me until I really get it. And that's the service you need from that person. You don't need, even if it may be cheaper, you don't need someone who's just gonna do your reports and say, here you go, and you're done, and you're good, because you're not good if you don't understand those numbers. Wonderful, Monique.

SPEAKER_02 40:23

Well, Lynette, you kind of stole my answer because I was gonna say they need to reach out to us. That's the first thing they need to do. Oh, yes, yes, I'll give another one since you just covered that. Um, I'm I'm gonna go back to um having your what-if scenarios. Have create that plan to say, okay, if I don't make X, then what will you do? Because you want to be able to make your financial decisions not under pressure, because that's when we kind of go off path. So create that contingency plan. Look at all areas of the business and what happens if X happens, and what happens if Y happens, and have an answer for that. Really think that through. Um, and so during that time where Rhonda says you take a moment to work on your business, yes, put that in there as a part of someone's work on.

SPEAKER_00 41:18

Very important. I love that. Thank you, ladies. And one thing is I hope I hope one thing that our audience takes away from this is the nature of how you ladies service your entrepreneurs. Because it's extremely clear to me that you don't just do reports and say, here you go, right? You're thinking about you're you're helping that entrepreneur think ahead, think about the right things, have a backup plan, understand the details. You're telling that entrepreneur, you need to have this, um, your night, you need to know what your 90-day cash flow is going to be because of XYZ, right? And most professionals out there are not doing what you do. So I want to thank you for providing that level of service, just as part of what you do. Like that's how you move in this industry, and I appreciate that. And I want the audience to recognize that's the level of service they deserve, right? That's what they should be looking for. So when they're thinking, oh, I need a bookkeeper, I need an accountant, I need someone to do my taxes, I need a CPA, I need a fractional CFO. When they're looking for that person, they should ask questions that let them know is this person gonna be available to explain stuff to me? Are they gonna make me feel like I should already know everything? Are they gonna help me think of things that I don't know I should be thinking about, right? Who knows? Who how did I know I needed to have a contingency plan, right? I thought I just should project my budget over the next couple of years and I'm good, right? But they need someone who's gonna feel responsible to tell them that. So I just um I just love the level of service you ladies give. And I want our audience to be like, well, Monique will be explaining this. So we know I need to have someone who's gonna explain it to me, right? Rhonda would be telling me to take a day to work on my business stuff in it. I need to make sure that's the relationship I have. Nikki will be telling me this is the report I need to look at to make sure I have money to cover my responsibilities. And the person I'm working with didn't say nothing like that to me. So you're a great mirror for people to hold up when they're looking for services. So I appreciate that. So thank you, ladies, for being here again at the Financial Roundtable, sharing all your expert advice, your lived experience, your professional experience with the entrepreneur who's out there building a business, and their goal is to be sustainable and be successful. With this information, they'll be better off than they were before. So thank you so much. You've been listening to the Empower Her Business Podcast. And before you go, I want to thank you for being here. If this episode supported you, please pay it forward. You can do that by hitting the follow button, rating us five stars, leaving a comment, and sharing us with others. This is how we ensure the podcast reaches more sisters and business. Until next time, I wish you the very best of joy, health, and wealth.

unknown 44:49

Be well.